


A Parent's Worst Nightmare

by heartsdesire456



Series: Life's Little Surprises [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Children In Danger, Fear, Kidnapping, M/M, Parenthood, Past-Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-21
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-10 21:22:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8939815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: After his death marked the end of his days as a villain or a hero, and after making a life with the man he loved and their beautiful son, Leonard Snart thought that nothing could ever ruin his day or dull his happiness.He thought so right up until the moment his coworker’s phone let off the screeching sound of a missing child alert and, when he pulled it out to silence it, his coworker gasped as he dropped his phone he was so startled and then turned to Len with a pale face and said the five words that absolutely wrecked Len’s happiness.“Isn’t Michael Allen your kid?”





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is an unexpected addition to the Michael Allen series I somehow started, and I've been slowly working on this all month, so almost 3 weeks exactly, which to me is pretty slow, honestly. HOWEVER! IT IS DONE! HURRAH! 
> 
> You don't HAVE to read that series, not really, but it fills in a LOT of details about Michael and where he came from. 
> 
> ENJOY!

Leonard Snart had faced some of the worst things that could ever happen to a human being in his lifetime. He had suffered pain, and loss, and fear, and regret, and every other form of abuse a person could bear, and some that nobody should ever have to bear. There was so much pain in his life that every single joy he had was so precious to him because it meant all that pain was worth suffering since he got to have even the smallest joy. These days, his life was full of so many joyful moments and so much happiness that he didn’t think anything could ever ruin his day, because every single day was happier than most of his life had been before it.

Leonard Snart _thought_ that nothing could ever ruin his day or dull his happiness, and he thought so right up until the moment his coworker’s phone let off the screeching sound of a missing child alert and, when he pulled it out to silence it, Larry gasped as he dropped his phone he was so startled and then turned to Len with a pale face and said the five words that absolutely _wrecked_ Len’s happiness.

“Isn’t Michael Allen your kid?”

~

Barry was just arriving back at the precinct when he spotted several people clustered around one of the televisions around the major crimes desks as he, Joe, and Captain Singh walked over. “Hey, what’s going on?”

Mary, one of the robbery detectives, turned around. “Somebody hit a bank across town and was gone before the black and whites ever got there. I suspect they’ll be calling you guys in once they get the scene under control. The precinct there doesn’t handle major crimes,” she said. “That’s in Captain Martinez’s district and-“

“We have a breaking update from the scene of the robbery,” the woman on the news interrupted. “Our reporters have obtained cellphone video footage streamed online from some of the hostages inside the bank at the time of the robbery that show that the robbers who somehow timed their robbery to beat police response took two children hostage as they fled.” The video footage came up on the screen, and at first, Barry didn’t recognize the grainy footage or the voice of a man shouting at the bank robbers to take him instead before being hit in the head with the butt of a gun, but when the footage changed to another angle with a clearer picture, Barry wasn’t sure who made a horrified sound and jerked helplessly towards the TV first, him for Captain Singh.

The man who was knocked out was Rob and the two children being picked up while they screamed for help were Michael and Jason.

“Oh my God, oh my GOD!” Barry stuttered, hands flying to his head. “Fuck, fuck, fuck-“

“Allen, what’s wron-“

Captain Singh turned to Barry with desperation in his eyes. “Can you do it?” he asked, and Barry shook his head rapidly.

“This isn’t live, they’re long gone from the scene, I need some idea which way-“

“What’s going on?” someone asked from behind them, and Joe wheeled around, finally reacting.

Joe waved a hand at the screen. “That’s my grandson!” he shouted at them, and Barry finally snapped out of his shocked, panicked floundering and grabbed his jacket from where it was wrapped around the strap of his evidence bag, digging frantically through the pockets.

Sure enough, he had two missed calls from Cisco. He quickly dialed Cisco as he turned and followed Captain Singh, who had stormed to his office. “Barry!” Cisco said when he answered. “Barry where were you, man, there was a bank robbery-“

“They took Michael, Cisco, they took him!” he gritted out, tears stinging his eyes as he followed Captain Singh into his office before he slammed the door. Captain Singh had already dove for his desk phone and was calling someone. Cisco shouted something to Caitlin, but Barry was having trouble focusing on anything other than the thought running through his head of, _they took my son, they took my son, they took my son_. “Cisco!” he shouted, and Cisco came back.

“Yeah, Barry, what do I do first?” he asked, and Barry took a deep breath.

“Find any way to track them. Whatever you have to do, do it,” he said, looking up when Captain Singh started talking.

He was pacing behind his desk, speaking loudly and gesticulating violently. “I DON’T CARE, I WANT AN AMBER ALERT OUT NOW!” he finally shouted, kicking his desk chair so it went flying. “I don’t care if it isn’t confirmed by the police, I know my son and I’m confirming it now! Every officer, every news outlet, every screen in the city, I want everybody from here to Star City to know the faces of the missing kids, AND I WANT IT NOW!” 

Barry was distracted by Cisco again. “Alright, we’re checking traffic cameras now, Barry, I’ll see what we can do-“

“I’ve gotta call Len,” Barry said, interrupting him. “I’ll call you later, Cisco. Bye.”

When Barry hung up the phone, he spared a glance at Captain Singh, who was leaning over his desk with his head hanging between his shoulders in a way that Barry entirely sympathized with. He called Len and waited, and waited, and waited some more, but the call went to voicemail. “God, don’t do this,” he said, dialing again.

He stood in Singh’s office and called Len over and over until Joe came into the office to let them know that they had gotten the call about Rob being in the hospital and awake now, which meant there was official confirmation that Michael and Jason were the kids who had been kidnapped, so they were sending the alert wide.

Barry didn’t waste a second flashing out of the room and straight to STAR labs.

~

Barry couldn’t even focus on what was happening. The day started so well. It was a rare day that Michael’s daycare was closed due to a broken water pipe, and Len absolutely had to go to work, something about installing some new electrical stuff for the server room of some big company that was opening in a week, and since both Barry and Joe were working that day, Iris and Wally were busy, and Cisco and Caitlin were on Meta Danger Watch Duty, when Captain Singh’s husband, Rob, called to talk about Michael and Jason playing together sometime that weekend, they had jumped at his offer to take Michael out for the day with him and Jason since he was off work that day. They were going to go see a movie and then go to the park, and Barry knew Michael would have such a fun time spending all day with his friend.

Now, all he could think about was how he had overestimated the safety of any afternoon outing in Central City.

Barry was still pacing while Cisco and Caitlin scrambled to find anything to help locate the kids when they heard a door slam open somewhere and familiar footsteps running towards the cortex. When Len came around the corner, Barry saw the terror in his eyes and, for some reason, that finally made him break down. Barry put his face in his hands and started to _sob_. “Len- Len,” he choked, and soon he had strong arms around him in a crushing grip. 

“Barry, I’m sorry, I forgot my phone at home this morning.” He tugged Barry into a hug so tight it almost hurt, but Barry just hugged him back. “What happened?” Len asked, voice absolutely wrecked.

Barry pulled back to look at him, shaking his head. “Rob must’ve had to stop at the bank and the bank robbers took the boys as hostages in case the cops caught them,” he choked out. “But- but the police didn’t get there in time, they timed it perfectly for response time, and they apparently are fucking geniuses at timing a heist, because they missed all of the traffic cameras going off!”

Len sighed. “Yeah, it’s easy to time those, they go off every thirty seconds, you just have to catch them right,” he muttered to himself, it seemed, more than Barry. Len let go of Barry and backed up some, running his hands over his shortly shorn hair. “Okay, okay, lemme think,” he said, shuffling from foot to foot. He closed his eyes and Barry saw a stray tear slide down his face. “Okay, anybody that good, somebody would know them. The right kind of criminals will talk.”

“Len, what are you saying?” Barry asked in confusion.

Len looked up at him, eyes red. “I’m saying I know where to go to get information. I know you know I still know people who know people,” he said, and Barry bit his lip. “Cisco,” Len said without breaking Barry’s gaze. “I don’t have my phone, so you text Lisa, tell her I’m coming over. If she hasn’t heard about Michael, let her know,” he said, and then he closed the gap between him and Barry and pulled him into a crushing hug again.

Cisco dug out his phone. “Alright, but please don’t let my fiancée murder anybody, because I cannot deal with a jailhouse wedding, man, I really cannot!”

“Len,” Barry whimpered, and Len shushed him, kissing his head.

“You do it your way, and I’ll do it mine. One of us will find the sons of bitches,” he said, and Barry closed his eyes and nodded. 

“Okay,” he said simply. He knew better than to try and talk Len out of looking into old sources. It was dangerous, and Barry was scared more than ever that something might happen to Len the same day something bad happened to Michael, but he also knew that Len loved their son just as much as he did, and right now, he wanted his child back more than anything else.

~

When Cisco and Caitlin couldn’t turn anything up, Barry went back to the precinct and, just as he was arriving, Captain Singh called his name from his office. “ALLEN!”

Barry followed the sound of his voice, and saw several people walking around, bringing folders and answering phones around Captain Singh. “Hey, do you have news?” he asked eagerly, but Singh shook his head.

“Press conference is in five minutes,” he said simply. “You and Joe come stand with me,” he instructed, and Barry nodded. Joe, who was hovering near the desk looking at a folder just looked up and nodded at Singh.

When the press conference actually started, in the main hall beneath the gold mural, there were reporters everywhere and the mayor was there, as well as the police chief, someone Barry had never actually met before. Their precinct was really the only one Barry had dealt with the people of, really. The mayor said a few words before letting the police chief brief the reporters and the public on what they knew so far, after which, Captain Singh took his place and Barry and Joe stepped up beside him some. Joe put his hand on Barry’s shoulder and Barry could tell from his death grip that he was just as terrified as Barry was. 

“I’m Captain David Singh, Central City Police, and normally when I give these kinds of press conferences, I’m telling you about somebody else’s family, and the lives of people I don’t personally know, but this time it’s different,” he said, voice tight. “My son is one of the kidnapped children,” he said, voice breaking a little bit. “Jason Singh is six years old. His birthday was two weeks ago. He’s three foot nine, he’s forty-six pounds, he has light hair and brown eyes, and he has freckles, and- and the people who robbed First National Bank grabbed him and his friend because they were the only hostages small enough to carry away,” he said tightly. “The other child is the son of one of our CSI techs, Barry Allen, and the grandson of one of my best detectives, Joe West,” he said, gesturing to them at his side. “Michael Allen is four years old, he’s three foot four, thirty-five pounds, and he has curly brown hair and blue eyes, and he also has a freckled complexion.” 

Barry didn’t think he would start crying in front of so many people, but as much as he _knew_ everything about Michael, hearing him described, it struck him how absolutely helpless against an adult Michael really was. He and Jason were little boys. They were just babies, and somebody had just grabbed them and ran away with them and they had to be so scared because there was nothing they could do, they were so helpless. 

Captain Singh continued, and though his voice was tight, his eyes were as fierce as Joe’s were at Barry’s side. “My husband went to the bank to get enough cash to pay for ice cream at the park for our son and his friend, and instead he’s in the hospital with a concussion and the kids are God knows where in the hands of God knows who.” He cleared his throat. “I want to make it clear to the kidnappers that we are willing to fully cooperate, and you should probably take us up on that offer, because robbing a bank and kidnapping children are one thing, but if you harm them, if you so much as hurt a hair on their heads,” he said, his voice growing darker, “You are facing a far more serious punishment altogether. These are police department children. You took the only child of a police captain. If you cooperate and release the children safely, I promise you, it will go far better for you than it will if you hurt them. If you hurt my son and his friend, there will be nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide, and nothing that can save you from what’s coming to you.” Captain Singh cleared his throat again and straightened up some. “Thank you,” he said, and then stepped away from the microphone to allow the mayor to go back up to it.

Barry met his eyes and nodded gratefully. Singh just nodded back and then turned to stand and face the mayor beside Barry and Joe.

~

Len hadn’t stepped foot into Saints and Sinners in four and a half years, but as he walked through the doors with Lisa at his side, it almost felt like old times. Half the people he spotted were the same ones who had frequented the joint back then, and the other half were people who clearly were in the same kind of shady dealings as they had been. 

As he and Lisa headed to the bar, the woman behind the counter met Len’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. “Well Leonard Snart, as I live and breathe.” She said it loud enough that a few people looked their way, but she kept her eyes on him. “I figured you’d finally bit the big one when you disappeared off the face of the earth.” She took a look at Lisa and raised an eyebrow at her belly. “He lookin’ for the guy that did that?” she asked with a teasing wink and Lisa gave her a devious smirk but raised her ring-finger to show her the engagement ring on it.

“I’m looking for information, Marie,” Len said as he slid onto one of the barstools. He didn’t even have to say anything for Marie to put a glass in front of him and pour him a shot. Len wasn’t much of a drinker anymore, but he figured he could really use it today, so he didn’t hesitate to down it. 

“Oh yeah? What kind?” she asked skeptically. “A lot’s changed in the past few years, you know?”

Len narrowed his eyes. “I’m looking for the crew that hit First National today,” he said, and he could practically hear the silence that fell over the bar as people quieted down to listen to him. 

Marie raised an eyebrow. “Yeah? And why are you interested?”

“You jealous somebody else took your place?” someone called from the other side of the bar. “Snart and his crew all up and disappear, and as soon as somebody rolls in to fill the gap they left, he gets twitchy!”

A laugh went around that table and Len didn’t have to turn around to know exactly where they were. He pictured in his mind how many there were and what they were armed with. Lisa, however, turned and looked that way, raising an eyebrow. “Hart, you want me to come kick your ass?” she challenged. “You probably never got your ass kicked by somebody that’s six months pregnant, but there’s always time to try new things.”

Hart. Len remembered him. He and his friends were petty criminals. They broke into cars, mostly. Very sloppy, too. He gestured for Marie to pour him another shot, and after downing it, he slid off the stool and turned around. He looked at Hart and his guys, and he started towards them. “Do you know who they are?” he asked, and Hart just snickered with his buddy beside him.

“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t, but what’s it to you anyways? You’re old news, Snart.”

Len rested a hand on Hart’s shoulder as he laughed along with the table for a moment before he used the hold on Hart to slam him face first into the table with a bang that made the others shove back from the table in reaction. “Let me make something painfully clear, Hart,” he said, leaning down to his ear as he ground his face into the wood of the table. “They fucked up and kidnapped my kid. Whoever it is, they’re going to regret that with every fiber of their being.” He looked around the table and saw pale, terrified faces, and he knew he was getting his message across. “Is anybody gonna give me a name?” he asked louder, but nobody spoke up from anywhere in the bar.

“I say we make somebody tell us,” Lisa said, walking over to someone at one of the booths. Even visibly pregnant, she was still intimidating. “What do you say, Lenny?” 

Len let Hart up and patted his head mockingly even as Hart looked up with blood pouring down his face from a broken nose. “Let’s make this simple. Whoever hit that bank kidnapped my son, and whoever kidnapped my son is going to give him back without so much as a scratch, and even then, I’m going to make them suffer,” he said in a dangerously cold tone, looking around the bar. “Somebody here knows whose name to write on my bullet, and I want to know it now.” He turned back to Marie, who looked shocked. “Just because I’ve been living straight for my kid doesn’t mean I won’t still set your bar on fire,” he threatened. “Mick may be gone, but I’m pretty sure I know how to use a match, and alcohol is very flammable,” he said plainly. “So somebody tells me the name of the person running that crew or I’ll conveniently forget that I’m no longer a criminal.”

Nobody spoke for a moment and Lisa kicked over the chair next to her. “Lenny asked you a question,” she said loudly, startling a few people. “My nephew was kidnapped and I will not repeat the question again,” she demanded. 

“They’re not from here.” Len turned back to Marie and she sighed, rolling her eyes. “They’re from Star City. Call themselves The Seven or some shit.” She nodded to one side. “They’ve come in a few times looking for people to join their crew, But it never amounted to much.”

Len nodded tensely. “Where can I find them?”

Marie shook her head. “Don’t know. They’ve done a few small jobs but it was all practice for the big one today. Other than that, I don’t know where they hide out.”

Len dug a bill out of his pocket and threw it on the bar before turning to leave. “Make sure the word gets out that I’m coming for them, and when I find them, those kids better be unharmed.” Lisa hooked her arm through his elbow on the way out and he knew the way she squeezed his forearm was meant to soothe him.

~

Len caught up with Barry when he was visiting Rob at the hospital. He had to stay for some tests so they decided to keep him overnight just to be sure his head injury wasn’t more severe than just a concussion. Naturally, the poor man was distraught.

“Barry, I’m so sorry,” Rob said for the thousandth time, tears in his eyes as he looked over at Barry, who stood beside his hospital bed. “It’s my fault, I know it.”

“No, no, no,” Barry repeated, reaching out to pat his hand. “Rob, in this city, these things happen. I know better than anyone,” he said pointedly.

“And I know even better than he does.” They both turned to see Len standing in the doorway and he pushed off of the doorjamb and walked over to stand beside Barry. “Rob, you know as well as you know about Barry exactly who I am,” he said, and Rob avoided his eyes with some guilt in his features. Len looked at Barry, who reached out and grabbed his wrist. Len turned his hand and let it slide into Barry’s, squeezing comfortingly. “I know exactly how bank robberies go, and while kidnapping children is pretty sloppy, everything else was planned to a tee, so these guys are professionals. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s no more your fault than it was our fault for letting Michael go out with you,” he said, and Barry turned his head and rested his cheek against Len’s shoulder, looking behind him, clearly trying to not cry in front of Rob. 

Rob nodded weakly, raising his hands to press to his face. “I just couldn’t live with myself if something happened to either of our boys. I want my son back.”

Len bit his lip and nodded. “Me, too,” he said in a tight voice. “But it’s not your fault, remember that.”

Barry turned back, nodding quickly. “It really isn’t, Rob. And we’re going to find our kids. Everybody is working on it, Joe and David are running the show, my guys are doing all they can, most of the city is on the lookout for them, and it has to turn up some leads soon.”

Len didn’t add in that he had sent a message through the criminal world that Snart was coming for the people who took the kids, but he had a feeling the way Rob looked at him that he knew that, too. It wasn’t hard for a parent to know the lengths to which another parent would go to get his child back safely.

~

When they got to STAR labs, everybody was working to try and find anything, even Lisa, Iris and Wally. “Did Lisa tell you about the gang being from Star City?” Len asked immediately, and Cisco nodded.

“Yep, and she also told me she almost kicked someone’s ass, which I told you not to let her do,” he said as he kept his eyes on his computer screen.

Lisa huffed from the other end of the table, where she was helping Caitlin. “Excuse you, but neither you nor Lenny can ‘let’ me do anything.”

“Yeah, well, it would be nice if you at least considered the fact you’re pregnant sometimes,” Cisco said right back. “The last thing I need is to have to get married with the warden of Iron Heights female wing as the witness signing the certificate and then have to raise a baby on my own because my wife’s doing twenty-five to life for murder.”

Lisa scoffed. “Oh it’s cute you think Iron Heights could hold me.”

“Well you could at least think of the baby, because if you get shot, that’s probably not good for our kid,” Cisco countered.

“Like I’d let little Eduardo get hurt-“

“We are _not_ naming our child Eduardo,” Cisco argued and Lisa whined dramatically.

“But that’s such a cute name-“

“It’s a girl!” he complained, and Len looked at Barry, who was equally as wide eyed.

Barry beamed. “Oh my God, it’s a girl? Nobody said!” he said cheerfully. “Congratulations!” he gushed and Lisa smiled uncomfortably.

“I didn’t want anybody knowing, but whatever. Doesn’t seem so important anymore,” she said, glancing at Len and then back at Barry. Barry’s face fell sharply and she rushed to continue. “But hey, it’s alright, Michael is fine, and his friend is gonna be fine, and my baby is fine, and all the children are going to be totally okay!”

Cisco grimaced. “Shit, Barry, I’m sorry,” he added. “We really shouldn’t be bickering about our kid’s name when yours is missing, but _totally fine_ ,” he stressed at the end. “Don’t worry. We’re going to find him.”

Barry nodded weakly, visibly shaken. “It’s- it’s fine to focus on happy things right now, too. It’s the only way to not go crazy,” he admitted. 

“I’d like to offer Consuela, if you’re sticking with an ethnic name,” Len said suddenly, giving Lisa a smile that was only slightly forced.

“Anyways,” Caitlin interrupted. “We called Felicity and Oliver to see what they could find out about this gang and they’re looking into it, to answer the original question.”

Len nodded. “Good,” he said, walking over to join her. “Now how can I help?”

“Same here,” Barry said, going to Cisco, and they all tried their hardest to find stuff to do to help find the boys faster.

For a few hours, everybody worked together, researching and checking tracking programs and calling people. They were there most of the night. It was in the early hours of the next day, while Lisa was asleep in one of the cots in the makeshift bunk room, Wally was asleep in one of the computer chairs, Iris had left to go check on her dad, Caitlin seemed to be running off of pure caffeine power alone, and Cisco had consumed so much sugar he was twitchy, that Barry’s phone rang. 

Len nearly jumped out of his skin, because Barry was sitting at his side, leaning into him as they shared a computer terminal, when the phone rang and startled the both of them. Barry looked at it frantically, only to frown when he saw whoever was calling and answered the call. “Oliver?” he asked in lieu of saying ‘hello’. Barry’s eyes widened suddenly. “Sara, but that means- what- time anomaly?” Barry stood up. “What do you mean you’ll be here in ten minutes? Star City is hundreds of miles away.” Barry stopped suddenly and pulled his phone away from his ear, frowning. “And he hung up on me.”

“Barry?” Cisco asked, looking between Barry’s hand and his phone in a twitchy manner that enhanced the visibility of his sugar rush. 

Barry turned to face them. “Oliver says the Waverider showed up in Star City and he thinks the time anomaly they’re working on is related to this,” he said uncomfortably. “That- that sounds scary,” he said, and Len bit his lip.

“Maybe not,” he said, frantically trying to remember his time as a time traveler and look for any good news in what was being said. “It could be anything. Maybe Cisco’s sugar-intake tonight triggers his evil scientist side and we have to stop him before it happens,” he said, and realistically, it wasn’t that far-fetched of an idea, even if he was joking. Barry didn’t seem comforted. “Look,” Len said more gently. “I probably pissed off the wrong person today and we need to keep me out of sight for a while until they cool off.”

Barry gave him a flat look. “Len, what did you do? I swear, if you pissed off people that can hunt you down-“

“I just let everyone know that Snart wants his son back and anybody who gets in my way will suffer,” Len said simply. Barry gave him a doubtful look. “Barry, look at me.” He grabbed his shoulders, looking into his eyes. “I went straight for you and for our son, and I like being a suburban dad far more than I ever liked being a criminal, but you remember as well as anybody that I was a bad man who hurt people, and these people? All they know is that Cold, the baddest villain in the city, went silent. They know how dangerous I am and they know that my son was kidnapped and I want him back.” He shook his head. “It might be what gets us our kid back, so I had to do it.”

Barry looked troubled by that, but he ducked his eyes and nodded. “You are not Captain Cold anymore, Len. But I get it. I do,” he said hoarsely. “Anything to get Michael back is worth the risk, but please don’t piss off the wrong people. The last thing I need is to worry about losing you while I’m focused on getting Michael back.”

Len pulled Barry into a hug and Barry buried his face in Len’s neck. Len kissed the side of his head, rubbing his back. “I know, Scarlet. But it’s going to be okay.”

“It better be,” Barry said, voice muffled in Len’s shirt.

They were still huddled together, Barry’s arms around Len’s middle while they sat and watched security cameras with Cisco, when Caitlin announced that Oliver and some others had arrived and unlocked the doors for them.

Barry stood up and walked over to the doorway to wait, and as soon as Oliver walked in at the head of a small group, Barry jumped at him, hugging him tight. Oliver, who usually wasn’t one for Barry’s hug-y nature, gave in and hugged him back. “I’m so sorry, Barry,” he said, and Barry pulled back.

Len watched while Barry then was half-tackled by Felicity, who had tears in her eyes. “It’s going to be okay, because we’re going to find Michael and Captain Singh’s son, I swear!”

“I guess you and Iris finally tied the knot then, huh?” a voice said, and Len’s chest tightened some when he looked beyond Felicity and John Diggle and realized that the other bodies standing in the shadows of the hallway were the Waverider crew. He hadn’t seen them in nearly six years. He doubted they even knew he was alive, given the fact Oliver obviously hadn’t told them about him and Barry.

Barry frowned. “Iris? What-“ His eyes widened. “Oh. Oliver and Felicity haven’t said anything-“

“We thought it was best they see for themselves,” Oliver said in one of his more gentle tones. “It’s a lot to handle.”

Sara walked out of the shadows, edging her way around Oliver and Felicity. “What’s a lot to handle?” she asked, and Len smiled to himself as Ray, Dr. Stein, Jax, and then Mick all followed her, as well as two people he didn’t know. No Rip, he noted to himself. Nor Kendra. None of them had looked his way yet, so he glanced over at Lisa, Cisco, and Caitlin, who all were looking right at him, and held a finger to his lips before he stood up and stepped away from the table. 

“Hello, Sara,” he said, and just as he predicted, everybody spun to look at him. 

“What the hell?!” Jax blurted out, and Dr. Stein looked like he was going to faint. Ray had gone pale, and Sara gasped, hands flying up to cover her mouth in shock. Mick, however, just stared at him like he had seen a ghost. The new people he didn’t know seemed confused, but he didn’t blame them.

Len walked over to stand beside Barry and, as he looked at his old team, he felt his eyes stinging just a little. “Just when I thought I was rid of the bunch of you,” he said, though the tightness in his voice as he spoke around a lump in his throat was hard to hide. 

“Oh my God, Leonard,” Sara finally gasped, and then, without warning, Ray let out a loud laugh of incredulity.

“The time matrix reverted his molecules to his original timeline, and I never even thought about that possibility!” he gushed, shaking Dr. Stein by the shoulder. “We all thought he was just blown to bits, but he must’ve been sucked into the timestream, and-“

“So let me get this straight,” Mick said, and Len met his eyes. Mick looked a little hurt, if that was possible. “You’re alive. We left 2016 and now it’s 2022. And you haven’t bothered letting anybody know you were alive in all that time?”

Len shrugged. “How could I? Blow up a building in the shape of ‘Dear Team, Snart Lives’? Hard to leave a message for time travelers without it being something big enough to make sure you’ll come to that spot in time and space.”

Mick eyed him skeptically for a moment before sniffing as if he decided something. “Yeah, okay.” Len half-expected to get punched when Mick surged forward, but he was surprised when he found himself being _hugged_ by _Mick_. “Good to see you, Snart,” he said, and Len smiled, hugging him back.

“You too, Mick. Wish the circumstances were different.” He looked over his shoulder at the two newbies and waved. “Hey, New People. I’m their not-dead friend, if they’ve mentioned me,” he said with a teasing smirk.

“Yes, about that!” Barry said loudly, and Mick pulled away, looking over at Barry. “Um, so Michael isn’t mine and Iris’s son,” he said, looking at Sara. “Iris and I never became a thing.” He looked over at Len, who stepped to the right and slid his arm around Barry’s middle. Barry leaned into his side. “Michael is our son. Mine and Len’s.”

“And it is a hell of a story,” Lisa called, and Len followed Mick’s eyes when he turned to look at her. She stood up and came over, Cisco and Caitlin trailing behind her to greet the new people. 

Mic’s eyes widened as he looked at her belly. “Did your brother murder the jerk that did that, or do you need me to?” he asked, and Lisa rushed straight over to hug him, making him laugh when he caught her.

“I’ve missed you!” she gushed, kissing his cheek when she pulled away. “And nope!” She rubbed her belly as she pulled back. “Cisco did it, we’re getting married, it’s a girl, we’re very excited!” she said, and Mick glared over her shoulder at Cisco, who shrunk behind Caitlin a little fearfully. 

Sara looked at Lisa and then over at Cisco and smirked. “Damn, Cisco, you did good,” she said, winking at Lisa. “If only I saw her before you did.”

The woman Len didn’t know cleared her throat. “As important as this reunion is for everyone, I’m sure, maybe we should focus on the issue at hand and do all of this later?” she said, and Oliver spoke up.

“Yes.” He looked at Barry and Len. “Sara told me what brought them to Star City and I think it’s probably related to Michael.” His serious expression set off something of a panic in Len’s chest. “I- I didn’t want to do this over the phone,” he said, and Barry immediately paled.

“Don’t say that,” he said in a small voice, and when Oliver looked at Sara, so did Barry. “Sara?”

Sara frowned at the two of them. “I’m still not sure how it ties in, but we came back because we’ve been fixing time anomalies. Things in history that aren’t supposed to happen. And the newest one says that in the year 2024, Star City gets wiped off the map. A villain rises to power and we don’t know why, yet, but he basically starts going after people in Star City and blowing entire buildings to smithereens to take them out. All the citizens eventually flee the city, and this guy wipes it out entirely.” She shook her head. “But I don’t get how this might be related to your son missing, Barry. This guy, his name is Wynter.”

Barry made a choked sound and put his clasped hands over his mouth, and immediately started crying. “No, no, no,” he babbled, and Felicity rushed forward, pulling him into a hug.

Len, however, was frozen. There was a ringing in his ears and his fingers tingled and he wasn’t sure he was even breathing anymore. He could see Barry breaking down and he saw Lisa dragging Cisco into a hug as Cisco’s face crumpled, but Len was completely and utterly frozen. It was only when Sara said his name several times and then stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder that he finally lifted his head. “Leonard, you need to breathe.”

Len finally sucked in a breath and his hearing came back immediately. He looked down at Sara, who was looking up at him in confusion, and he felt tears streak his cheeks when he finally blinked, though his faced stayed frozen and blank. “When Michael was born I needed a new identity, so I took my mother’s maiden name. I’m not Leonard Snart anymore. I’m Leonard Wynters.” He saw the others all react in various ways, mostly gasps of surprise, but Sara’s face dropped and he nodded weakly. “If- if I go full-destruction, that means we- we either don’t find Michael or we find him dead.” He stared at her for a moment before he sucked in a breath suddenly and his breath came in gasps. “Oh God,” he choked, raising his hands to link behind his head. “Oh God, my son!” He turned around and looked at Barry, who was sobbing into Oliver’s chest, and then turned back to his old friends. “M-Michael,” he whimpered, and Sara grabbed him and wrestled him into a hug.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, Leonard,” she whispered.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Len looked up and saw the new guy stepping through the cluster. “Wait, no, we have managed to fix all of the other time anomalies so far,” he said, looking around. “Guys, I’m not trying to give false hope, here, but there’s still a very real chance this won’t happen,” he stressed. He looked at Sara. “Right?”

Sara pulled away from Len, a fire in her eyes. “Nate’s right,” she said, turning back to Len. “He’s right! Barry,” she said, walking over to drag him out of Oliver and Felicity’s grasp. “Barry, breathe, okay? Nate is right. We’ve fixed every other time anomaly so far,” she stressed. “If we were guided here by Leonard burning Star City to the ground, that means we’re supposed to stop it, and if the catalyst for him going full-warpath is your son never being found or being killed, then we were sent here for a reason.” Sara looked around at everybody. “With our help, we can find him.”

Barry looked at her with hope in his teary eyes. “You’re right,” he said, looking past her to Len. “Len, she’s right. She- she can help us find him. We can still find him. If this was the time the Waverider was sent to, then Michael isn’t dead for sure. Right now, our son is still alive out there. We just have to find him.”

Felicity sniffled. “Oh my God, that’s right,” she said, shaking Barry by the arm. “He’s alive, and we just have to find him!” She rushed past him, heels clicking loudly as she grabbed Cisco and dragged him away from Lisa. “Come on! We don’t have any time to spare! We have to work nonstop if we’re going to find Michael!”

Cisco nodded, falling into his chair as he wiped at his face. “Yeah, okay. Yeah. Me and you together, we’ve got a better shot, for sure,” he said eagerly.

Lisa looked over at Sara worriedly. “You really think so? You think we can save him?”

Sara nodded. “We’re gonna get your nephew back,” she said, and Len nodded slowly.

He took a breath, wiping at his eyes a little embarrassedly. “Whatever we have to do to get my little boy back,” he gritted out, fighting the way his lip still trembled. “I’ll do anything to get him back.”

Oliver nodded, looking around. “Then let’s get to work.”

~

Everybody had to be briefed on what they knew so far before they split up into teams, and the first bump in the road came when someone raised the question of why Michael Allen looked just like Len if he was as old as he was.

“He had to be conceived just a few months after Mr. Snart came back to life,” Dr. Stein said, looking very puzzled. Barry ducked his head some and saw Lisa and Cisco both smirking deviously at him. “Yet you named him Michael Allen, so he must have been adopted at birth, when you two would not have been dating very long at all-“

“Looks just like Snart, so that might be why,” Mick said, holding up the photo of Michael. “Although, if he’s Snart’s kid, why is his name Allen?”

Felicity snorted. “Yeah, Barry, why don’t you tell them why that is,” she said, and Barry gave her a look he hoped conveyed ‘worst friend ever’ to her.

Barry cleared his throat and turned to look at Dr. Stein. “Well,” he said, sliding his fingers between the keys on the keyboard beside him in grid patterns. “Well, okay, so when I found out Len was alive, I was glad, because I had heard he died a hero and he was sort of depressed from the trauma of it all, so I wanted to- to be a friend.” Len snickered under his breath and Barry glared at him until he stopped, face returning to a placid state of amusement across the table. “And we, uh, we started hanging out. And we found out we- we get along pretty well.”

Len smirked and turned to look at Dr. Stein. “By ‘hanging out’ he means tons of casual sex, and by ‘get along’ he means very sexually compatible,” he supplied, and Barry flushed bright red.

“Len!” he hissed.

“And Scarlet was a very filthy boy,” Len added deviously and Barry kicked his chair, making him slide a few inches as Barry glared at him. 

“Len!” Len held up his hands, and Barry turned back reluctantly to see Dr. Stein looked incredibly uncomfortable. Sara, however, looked very amused.

“Honest, I had you pegged for a twenty-something year old virgin when I met you, Barry, so take it as a compliment,” she offered and he rolled his eyes at her. 

He sighed in frustration. “Anyways, fine, we were hooking up because he’s hot and he wasn’t bad anymore so I didn’t feel guilty about thinking he’s hot, and then we sort of realized we’d developed feelings and we went on a date instead of just meeting up to have sex at his place like usual, and my dad caught me going out with my ‘secret boyfriend’ and he made me invite him to family dinner, so I had to trick Len into coming to family dinner, and my dad blew up on us, but Len stuck through it and we sort of kind of started dating because the feelings were pretty obvious then, and yeah. We’ve been together since,” he finished, cheeks still red.

“Uh-huh, and how does that explain the kid looking like Snart?” Ray asked slowly, as if he wasn’t sure if he had missed something. 

Barry flushed again. “Oh yeah, I got sidetracked, because _someone_ -“ he glared over at Len. “Interrupted me.” He cleared his throat, fidgeting a little. “Well, this is going to sound insane, but turns out being a metahuman can affect your biology further than just powers, because we had only been having sex for a few weeks when I unknowingly got pregnant, and I discovered it a couple weeks after Len and I started dating and I was already three months pregnant.” He stopped, and looked around at the confused, startled, and freaked out looks on some of their faces. “Sooo yeah. Michael’s name is Allen because I carried him for nine months, therefore he’s biologically my son, and he looks like Len because Len is also his biological father.” 

Everybody was quiet at first, and then Jax spoke first. “Dude…”

Lisa clapped and burst out laughing. “Yep! I felt that same way,” she said, snickering at Barry.

“Hey, you and me ended up in the unplanned pregnancy boat together, Sister,” Barry retorted and she smirked.

“But I’d been dating Cisco for almost three years before I forgot the pill for a few days. You and my brother were having almost-hate-sex for a few weeks and you got knocked up. Big difference,” she teased and Barry groaned, letting his head fall to the keyboard he had been playing with.

Len rolled his eyes. “You two don’t fight,” he said, reaching out to grab Barry’s hand. “Admit it, Kid, it’s kind of hilarious,” he said, pulling Barry’s hand to his lips. “Best accident of our lives, but still an accident.”

“I’m still stuck on the fact Toothpick was pregnant,” Mick said, looking very perturbed. 

Ray cleared his throat. “Well, the important part is, you two started a family together and we’re going to find your son so your family can continue to grow.”

Sara snorted. “I don’t know if the world needs yet another Snart, Ray,” she teased, and Barry scoffed.

“Oh no. Nope, we’re happy with our little family just how it is, thanks,” he dismissed. “I love my son with every fiber of my being, but pregnancy sucked and my metabolism burns off any pain medication, so I had a C-section without anything to dull the pain other than Len holding my hand and talking to me,” he said bluntly. “Len and I are extremely careful about that risk, because I would like to never have my body cut open while I’m strapped down ever again.”

Len shuddered. “Nope, never want to watch that again.”

Even Mick looked disturbed at that thought. “Damn, you’re tougher than you look,” he said, and Barry snorted slightly and shook his head. 

“It sucked, but right now, if it was enough to get me my son back, I’d let somebody go at me with a dull scalpel,” he said in a sad tone. He rubbed at his face with his free hand. “I want my son so bad. I want Jason to be okay, too. The Singh’s had to fight to adopt at all since Captain Singh is a cop and they don’t want to give kids to couples where one of them might die in their everyday job. If they lost him it would kill them both,” he said quietly. 

“They won’t,” Sara comforted. “We’ll find your kids.”

Barry sniffled, closing his eyes. “They have to be so scared,” he whispered, and Len tugged his hand to his lips, holding it against his mouth as he shuddered. “They’re just babies, and they must be terrified.”

Nobody said anything, but Len held his hand and didn’t let go for anything.

~

Michael was mad. The bad men that took him and Jason had hurt Jason’s dad, and Jason was scared and crying, and Michael didn’t like that at all. He really didn’t like it when the bad man with the blond hair and the beard kept yelling at Jason to stop crying.

“WHY WON’T YOU LISTEN TO ME?!” he roared and Michael glared at him.

“Probably cause you knocked out his hearing aids so now he can’t hear nothin’,” he retorted, and the blond man turned to look at him.

“Don’t get smart with me, boy,” he said, and then looked over at the man with the black hair and the tattoo. “Uh, did anybody find any hearing aids in the van, Greg?” he asked, and the man with black hair – Greg, Michael now knew – shrugged. 

Michael just patted Jason’s head like a dog. He didn’t know if it worked on people, but it made dogs be nice, so he thought maybe it would make Jason feel better. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said, making sure Jason could see his mouth. His dad, the one who worked with Michael’s daddy, told him Jason could tell what you were saying if his hearing aids ever fell out just by looking at your mouth. So Michael figured now was a good time to test that. 

It didn’t seem to work, cause Jason was crying, but Michael thought it was a good first try at least.

“What the hell was Dave thinking, grabbing kids like that?” Greg said to the blond man. “You saw the news, right? Nobody cares about the robbery, they just want the kids back. Bank robbery is a hell of a lot less trouble than kidnapping kids.”

“You should let us go,” Michael said, and they both looked at him.

“Kid, shut up,” Greg said, rolling his eyes. “Don’t make me duct tape your lips shut.”

Michael didn’t want that, because if they duct taped his lips shut, Jason couldn’t look at them to know what he said, and that would be bad. He closed his mouth and patted Jason’s head again. Jason, however, seemed ready to say something, too. “You- you’re gonna be in trouble,” Jason said, his words a little funny sounding since he couldn’t hear, Michael figured. “My dad is a policeman. He’s in charge of all the other police, too. And his dad works for the police too. And his grandpa! If you don’t let us go, you’ll go to jail!” Jason said, even though he was still sniffling.

The blond man walked over and squatted down in front of him. “Oh yeah? Well if you don’t shut up, you’re gonna go see Jesus, kid,” he said, poking Jason in the chest. “Now shut it.”

After the man stood up, Jason looked at Michael, who felt really scared now. “Ain’t Jesus dead?” he asked Jason, who nodded quickly. “Oh.” Michael looked down at the floor, and he suddenly wasn’t mad anymore, he was just really, really scared. He didn’t want to be dead. He wanted to go home. “I want Dad,” he whimpered, and Jason touched his hand. He looked up and Jason looked confused, so he whispered it to him so he could see it. “I want my dad,” he said, and Jason nodded quickly, tugging Michael by the arm so he was pressed up against his side. Michael grabbed onto Jason’s shirt, holding onto the bottom of it, just in case they tried to take him away from Jason, cause he didn’t wanna be alone on top of everything.

Jason sniffled and ducked his head. “Me, too.”

~

They had to drop off their ransom video drive in a mailbox nowhere near their hideout, so Dave went all the way across the city to drop the drive. After dropping it, he walked down the street to a bar for a drink. He deserved it. Those kids were more trouble than they ever meant for them to be. He had grabbed them because Mark and Greg needed a distraction and they were right there. They were small and easy to run with. A couple of kids would keep the cops from shooting at them if they showed up. 

They hadn’t shown up, though, so rather than toss the kids out of the van and make a quick getaway, they were stuck with them. It was really disturbing to learn from Mark that the kids were _cops_ kids.

“What can I get you, honey?” Dave looked up at the bartender in surprise. He hadn’t noticed her show up, but he didn’t hesitate to order a bourbon. As he sat with his drink, he heard someone talking at one of the tables behind him, and watched as the bartender walked over with a tray of drinks.

“What’re you boys talking about?” she asked as she set drinks down.

One of the guys looked up at her. “Bob here was at Saints and Sinners yesterday,” he said. “Word over there is that Captain Cold’s back, and it turns out he wasn’t dead or locked up. He went straight.”

The woman gasped. “No fuckin’ way,” she said bluntly. “ _Cold_ went straight?”

“Yep,” Bob, it seemed, spoke up, and Dave turned to look their way surreptitiously. “He’s back though, and he’s mad as hell.” He shook his head with wide eyes. “He had a kid and went straight, but somebody kidnapped his kid.”

Dave stilled. There was no way. It couldn’t be. He knew about Captain Cold. A few years back, he’d been one of the best of the best. He even beat The Flash, people said. There was no way _Cold_ had a kid with a cop.

“He’s looking for those bank robbers from Star City, because those kids they snatched? One of them was his.”

Dave dropped his glass, going pale as it shattered on the edge of the bar beside him.

~

Barry didn’t sleep a wink. Len knew that because he had held him while he cried most of the night. Everybody was taking turns getting a few hours of sleep, so they were never really alone in the lounge, but Barry wanted him to come lie down with him when he went to sleep. Instead, he lay there holding Barry while Barry cried into his chest. 

Len curled a hand in the back of Barry’s hair and stroked his head soothingly, humming to him on and off as sobs waxed and waned. Len couldn’t even cry. He couldn’t even understand what he felt, but he was so scared he was numb. Len saw everybody that came through to take a nap looking over at them, crammed into a single cot together, as Barry laid on Lens’ chest and sniffled pitifully. 

The next morning they both finally gave up on trying to sleep. Barry wanted to go into work with Joe and see what the police had turned up on the kids, so Len decided to go do some searching and talk to people who might know where the gang that took the boys was hiding out.

It was strange to carry a gun again. Len hadn’t gotten into a fight in a long time, nonetheless a gunfight. He left the vigilantism to Barry, even if he helped the team sometimes from STAR Labs. But before he left, he had stopped to get a gun from the weapons room at the lab. He hoped he didn’t have to use it, because he didn’t like the feeling of becoming what he once was ever again, but if it would get him his son back, he was willing to do whatever he had to. His child was his priority, and he knew how to get his hands dirty if he needed to.

He was just on his way out of the weapons room when he looked up and saw a silhouette in the hallway. Mick tilted his head as Len stopped walking and gestured behind him. “Want some company?” he asked, and Len nodded simply.

“Sounds grand.”

It almost felt disturbingly like old times as Mick fell into step with him as he headed out to get some information from some criminals who probably knew a guy. 

~

“So,” Mick said as he sat in the passenger seat of Len and Barry’s car. “You have a car,” he said, looking around. 

“Yeah, a bike doesn’t work well when you’ve got a four year old,” Len said, and Mick grunted.

“Because you had a kid.”

Len smiled faintly, nodding slowly. “Yep, I had a kid.”

Mick chuckled. “With The Flash.”

Len smirked. “Eh, you remember he always did that ‘I see good in you’ crap when we were enemies. He was totally into me even when he was trying to lock me up.”

Mick snorted. “You had a kid with The Flash and Lisa’s pregnant and getting married to his sidekick. Who would’ve ever guessed that?” He looked over at Len. “I still can’t believe _Lisa_ is having a baby.”

“I wouldn’t have either if I hadn’t seen her with Michael,” he said with a shake of his head. “When Barry was pregnant, she was so excited already, and once he was born, I about had to fight her to get my own baby back when she visited. I’m pretty sure she didn’t plan on her baby, but she was ridiculously happy as soon as she found out,” he said with a fond smile. “Started talking baby names about an hour after she found out. Her fiancé passed out several times and she just left him lying there,” he joked. He was quiet for a moment and gave a soft sigh. “I gotta tell you, Mick. I enjoyed all my years pulling heists, and I enjoyed time traveling even more, but my kid.” He smiled sadly, shaking his head. “My kid and my life right now is better than all of that combined. I was feeling old and useless, and Michael makes me feel like the most important person in the world. If we can’t find him-“

“Snart, we’re gonna save your kid.” Mick gave him a look. “Some two-bit bank robbers are no match for us,” he pointed out. “We may have been out of the game for a while, but we’re going to get Michael back for you.”

Len rubbed at his cheek. “We better. You saw as well as I did what happens if we don’t. I want to think I’m not that guy anymore, but I don’t think I could handle losing my son. I can’t. My life has been so full of bad things and he’s the best thing about it, and I cannot lose him and expect to come away sane.”

~

Barry stood with his hands over his mouth wishing more than anything that Len was here as the anonymous ransom video that had been mailed to a news network played on the TV for the detectives. Thankfully, they had immediately turned it in to the police, so they could try and get any information from it before it went wide and they risked the kidnappers leaving their hideout for another one.

Michael couldn’t read very well yet, and the kidnappers, upon discovering that, had obviously decided to really go for the heartstrings in making him read the letter of demands with Jason, who could read much better, since he was older and already in school, forcing him to sound out the words, which made it all the more obvious how young of a child he was.

“I have b-been take-en by the… the Seven, and t-th-they want mon- money for my rel- re-le-as? Oh! Release.”

Jason looked at something off camera and then picked up his letter. “The Seven want half a million dollars for each of us to be sent to a bank account that they will send the numbers to with the next video.”

Someone off camera said something and the boys both looked at the camera again and Michael started crying. “He- he said he’s gonna hurt us if our dads try something dumb with the police,” Jason said, leaning closer to Michael as he kept looking over at the same thing off camera every few minutes. 

“I wanna go home!” Michael sobbed, rubbing his eyes with his little fists, and Jason huddled into his side just as the video went black.

Barry let out a soft sob, hands covering his face now as Joe tugged him into a hug. “It’s okay, he’s still unharmed, he’s okay, Barry,” Joe tried to comfort, but Joe’s voice was strained with tears as well.

“He’s so scared!” Barry choked out, clinging to Joe. “You saw him, he’s so scared, and he’s my baby. I just want my baby back!” Barry whimpered.

“They didn’t say when the next video would come,” Captain Singh said in an empty tone. “Everybody, look for clues anywhere in that clip. Watch it again and again. Analyze it for background noise, zoom in on any reflections, whatever you can,” he instructed. “And then in three hours, we’re letting the news station release it. They might not send the next video until they see it aired, and I’m not taking any more time than we have to to get that video. I’m not adding a minute of time to my son being stuck with those monsters,” he said harshly. “Allen, my office,” he said, stalking straight to his office.

Barry followed him, and he walked over to his desk, already sticking a USB drive into the slot on his computer. “Take a copy of this to your ‘friends’. They have to have better equipment than we do,” he said gruffly. “Anything they can find to help us get our boys back, I’ll take it without any question how they got it.”

Singh handed him the drive after it loaded and Barry took it, hesitating for a moment. “C-Captain,” he said, watching as Singh put his head in his hands, elbows on his desk. “You know who Len really is. I know you’re not stupid, so I’m going to cut the bullshit,” he said, and Singh laughed hollowly.

“Yeah, I do. And I decided not to question it because I trust you and know if he was still _that guy_ you wouldn’t have had a kid with him and definitely wouldn’t still be with him all these years later.” He looked up at Barry. “Why bring it up now?”

With a grimace, Barry looked down at the drive again. “He- He could- it’s not impossible that he might- might do something.” Barry bit his lip, looking up at Singh. “About- about the gang that took Michael and Jason. He already went looking for information. I know he took a gun, and I know he’s going to his old criminal hang-outs looking for people. If- if he finds out something before the police do, he- he might not wait to act-“

“Are you trying to tell me your partner might kill some people over his kid?” Singh asked him bluntly. “Because if you are, then thanks, but I already considered that.” Barry was surprised, and Singh shook his head. “I’m a good cop, Allen. I’m a clean cop. I’ve never stood for anything that wasn’t entirely by the book.” He pointed at him. “But if you don’t think I’m willing to turn my head to your partner doing what I can’t to find our kids, then you’re dumber than you look.” Singh shook his head. “Leonard Snart can go full on Captain Cold for all I care so long as it means he gets my kid safely away from those monsters that have him now. As long as the kids don’t get caught in the crossfire, I can pretend I don’t know who found The Seven and took them down. I don’t want my son traumatized by that kind of violence, but if he’s traumatized he’s still alive at least,” he said, looking haunted by the thought. “He can get therapy to recover from seeing something horrible like that, he can’t recover from being murdered by those bastards.”

Barry swallowed hard and nodded. “Good. Because I can try my best to talk Len down from it, but if he thinks my limitations are stopping him from saving Michael, he’ll ignore me, and I won’t try to stop him. Our child matters more than my morals.”

“That I fully understand,” Singh said, looking grim at the thought, but just as determined as Barry felt.

~

Dave ran into the warehouse, panting. “We’ve got a big problem!” he shouted, and Greg and Mark looked up from where they were giving water to the hostages. Greg left Mark to give them water and came over to Dave, who panted, leaning on his knees. 

“What’s going on?” he asked quickly.

“Cold,” he said suddenly. “One of those kids is Captain Cold’s kid!” he spluttered. 

Greg paled. “Captain Cold. That guy disappeared years ago. I thought he was dead or locked up.”

“He had a kid and went straight,” Dave said, shaking his head. “We fucked up. We fucked up bad. He’s mad as hell and coming for us.”

Greg looked over at Mark and the kids. “Shit.” He looked back at Dave. “We’ve gotta get rid of them. Fast.”

~

Len and Mick were at Marshall’s, a bar near the docks frequented by criminals, when the guy at the bar reached up and turned the sound on on the TV over the bar. “Quiet, there’s more news about those missing kids,” he said, and the loud laughter throughout the bar quieted to murmurs. He looked at Mick and shook his head. “Everybody’s been pretty spooked. Somebody kidnapped some cops’ kids. Most of the guys around here aren’t exactly saints, you know, so they don’t like this extra heat coming down on the city while the cops look everywhere for the guys that took a couple kids.”

Mick grunted. “Bank robbery, right? I heard about it,” he dismissed. They had told the guy they weren’t from around here, since they were trying to overhear any leads without starting a bar fight. Yet.

On the TV, the news anchor looked shaken. “I’d like to warn our viewers that the ransom video we’re going to air is disturbing.” Len’s hand clenched around his glass as he watched the screen go black apart from the lower third and suddenly, without warning, there was Michael and Jason in front of a camera. 

Len regretted not turning on his phone so Barry could’ve warned him what was going to be on the news, because watching his little boy reading his own _ransom note_ and struggling to sound out some of the words because he was _four fucking years old_ was one of the worst things Len had ever witnessed out of all the fucked up shit he’d witnessed before. 

When Michael started crying and sobbed, “I wanna go home!” it took everything in Len not to burst into tears himself. When the screen went black right after that, leaving him with nothing beyond his child crying in the hands of kidnappers, Len felt rage so intensely that, before he even knew what had happened, his glass shattered in his hand, exploding shards of glass and whiskey all over the bar

“What the hell?!” the bartender asked, grabbing a rag quickly. 

“Snart,” Mick grunted, grabbing his wrist. Len looked down at his hand and saw little cuts bleeding, but no major damage. 

Len closed his eyes and took a deep, rasping breath, exhaling heavily. “They’re going to die. When I get my hands on them, they’re going to die. If they hurt my son, I won’t stop until I find every member of that gang and murder them slowly.”

Mick grabbed his elbow and dragged him out of the chair and tugged him outside before the bartender could overhear anymore. “We’re gonna fix this and get your kid back,” Mick said bluntly. “Our job is to stop you from going full on Darth Vader, so we’ve got to find your kid safely.”

The anomaly in the future made a lot of sense to Len about now. Seeing Michael scared like that made him want to start killing people until somebody gave him some answers, so he could easily imagine what would happen if he didn’t get his son back. It was unthinkable, and yet the outcome of that unthinkable thing was easily imaginable. Len would rage. He would burn. He would fight. He would hunt down everyone who had ever hurt another human being and end them. 

Len couldn’t let that part of him ever come to light. He had a darkness in him that he had long ago shut away. He was better. He was _good_. He was a father and a partner and a normal man. He was going to be an uncle, soon. He had to find Michael and they had to be alright, because if he lost his child he would lose himself, and he didn’t want that. Ever. 

~

When Len got back to STAR Labs with Mick, they walked in on Cisco and Caitlyn arguing with Dr. Stein about something. “From the sunlight in the photo, they’re clearly in a warehouse with north-facing windows-“

“And we already said that doesn’t narrow it down much!” Cisco said, throwing his pen down on the table. 

“Cisco, don’t snap-“

“Caitlyn-“

“Quiet. All of you,” Sara said firmly, and they all went quiet.

Len cleared his throat as they walked into the room. “What’s going on here?” he asked, looking around.

Sara turned to him, gesturing to the scientists at the table. “They’ve determined the warehouse has north-facing windows, but after all that hard work, they also determined that that only narrows it down to forty different warehouses all over the city,” she said with a shake of her head. “Even if we start searching now, forty warehouses is too many.”

“And to be specific, it’s forty-two,” Cisco added. 

Len nodded. “Okay, show me on a map,” he said, walking over to them. “I can at least cancel out a few, to narrow the field.” He leaned over the desktop as Caitlyn pulled up a map. He gestured along one street. “They won’t be east of this street. I suspected and then confirmed since I’ve been checking out the old hang-outs that that is all controlled by the Martini Family. They wouldn’t ever get permission to use one of their warehouses and they won’t be stupid enough to do it anyways,” he said. “So that’s five down already.” 

Cisco gave him an uneasy look. “Look, I know that none of us can really understand what you’re going through right now, Man, but you can’t tick off a few warehouses at a time and think it’ll find Michael soon enough-“

“Cisco, I watched my son crying and terrified on the news earlier,” Len said tightly but calmly. “I’ll search every warehouse on my own if I have to, because I’m not sitting here and waiting for answers.” He straightened up, looking around. “Where’s Barry? With his speed this shouldn’t be too hard.”

Cisco shook his head. “All-nighter at the police station. It’s his kid, so if he ducks out they’ll think something’s up.”

Len gritted his teeth in annoyance, but he knew it made sense. “I’m heading out to look for my son. Give me comms and direct me.” He grimaced. “I’ve got to go really upset Barry and Joe by stealing a bike for this,” he said, and Sara shrugged at him.

“It’s just borrowing without permission if you plan on giving it back. You can write them a note,” she added, patting him on the shoulder as he walked past and went to find a helmet in the supply room. 

~

It was a little worrisome to Len how easy it was to steal someone’s motorcycle right off the street in front of their apartment. He hadn’t stolen a vehicle in five years and yet it was still second nature. The longer Michael was missing, and the further lengths he went to, the more he started to fear that the old Leonard Snart was still far more present than Leonard Wynters liked. 

It was even more worrisome that he didn’t have any hesitancy to park the bike on the street outside the police precinct after searching until dawn and only knocking off six more warehouses. He nodded in greeting to several officers while walking away from a stolen motorcycle because they knew him as Barry Allen’s partner, Len, not as Cold. 

He wasn’t expecting the flurry of activity when he walked into the precinct. Immediately his pulse sped up and he stalked purposefully towards the activity outside Singh’s office, only to spot Barry visibly panicking while Joe tried to calm him down. “Barry!” he called out, breaking into a run to get to him faster. 

Barry’s head whipped around and he immediately jumped at Len, grabbing him around the shoulders. “Len, Len they sent another video! Singh went home to check on Rob and shower and change and it came while he’s gone!”

Len clutched him close, turning to hold Barry’s head against his jaw. “What does it say? Is Michael alright? Is he hurt?”

Barry sniffled. “We have to wait for Singh, and I can’t stand it. I need to watch it! I need to know if my baby’s okay!” he choked, fisting his hands in the back of Len’s jacket. “Len I want our baby,” he sobbed, hyperventilating just a little as he gasped for air. “Len, our baby, they have our baby. I want my baby!” he cried, and Len could feel people looking at them from all over but couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Shhhh,” Len whispered, holding him close. “He’ll be okay, Barry-“

“I can’t stand it, Len,” Barry whimpered, shoulders shaking. “What if it happens, Len? When if we lose him?” 

Len’s heart clenched painfully and he felt a wave of nausea. “No,” he said gruffly, pressing his face into Barry’s hair. “We’ve got a lead. That’s why I’m here. We’re going to find him, and soon.”

Barry clenched a hand in his shirt, but before he could say anything, a voice rang out behind him. “Allen! Where’s the video? Now!” Len released Barry so he could turn to face Singh. He looked just as haggard as Barry was as he ran across the floor and rushed to Barry’s side.

Barry pulled away and turned around, wiping his face as he walked over to stand next to Singh as one of the cops press a button and then, on the TV on the wall across from them, a video began to play. 

It was no easier the second time around to see Michael on the ransom video, Len discovered. Judging by Singh’s expression, it was no easier for him to see Jason again either. 

The video showed Jason and Michael sitting together again only this time a man in a balaclava with a gun knelt behind them on the ratty blanket on the floor they were sitting on. “Hello, Central City,” the man said, his voice deep and gruff. “We’re going to play a game.” He held the gun upright, pointing it at the ceiling. “I have two little boys here, as you might have noticed,” he said, using the barrel of the gun to touch each of their shoulders. “Now, some interesting information has come to light regarding these sweet little children.” He paused and Michael closed his eyes, shaking in fear, and it broke Len’s heart. “They tell me their daddies work for the police, and the news tells me one of them is a police captain and the other is a CSI tech.” He touched the gun barrel to Jason’s cheek and Jason whimpered and pulled away. 

“The word on the street, though…” He moved and touched the gun to Michael’s cheek, making him let out a soft sob of fear. “Is that one of these innocent boys’ has a daddy who is a very, very bad man.” Len’s blood ran cold and he saw Barry and Singh stiffen out of the corner of his eye. “One of these fine, upstanding policemen has a partner with a big, bad secret. Now, these two here don’t believe me,” he said, gesturing between the boys with the gun. “So I’m not sure which one has a daddy that’s a bad guy and a daddy who knowingly started a family with that bad guy, but that bad man has sent word through the darkest corners of this city that he’s coming to get me.” The man mock cowered in fear. “I’d be a bit more scared of you, Cold, if I didn’t have your only child at gunpoint,” he said bluntly, and a faint ringing started in Len’s ears as the man actually pointed the gun at Jason’s head and then turned it to Michael’s.

“Here’s how it’s going to work,” the man said with a sneer in his voice. “I want diamonds,” he said sharply. “If the parents working with the law can’t get me two million dollars’ worth of diamonds, then it’s up to you, Captain Cold, to do what you used to do best and get them for me the old fashioned way.” He tapped each boy’s face with his gun. “Anything you want to say to your daddies?” he said with a _laugh_. “Remind them that, if Cold loves you enough, I’ll get my money no matter what, and he can have you back.”

Michael let out a terrified whimper and shook his head rapidly, big, fat tears rolling down his face as he trembled in fear. Jason looked right at the camera. “Dad, please find us!” he pleaded, and then the camera went black.

Len, however, noticed something just as the video ended that Singh was too busy watching his child’s face to see. “Turn it back!” he cried out, stepping closer to the screen.

“What is it?” Singh asked as the video went back about ten seconds, only to have his eyes widen when they hit play. “Jason’s signing!” he said, and there was a flurry of voices. “Boat?” Singh asked breathlessly.

“Play it again,” Len said, and he watched carefully. Though both Singh and his husband had learned basic sign language when they adopted Jason, Jason could hear with hearing aids so he mostly just talked to them. Len knew sign language most of his life, since it was the best way to communicate silently during a heist, and he knew it fluently after Lewis’s ‘education’ methods made it stick. “He says he hears boats,” Len said, turning to Singh. “He hears boats, that means they’re near the water!”

Singh looked cautious with his hope. “But half of the city is waterfront, that’s not that much help.”

Len gave Barry a meaningful look and Barry’s eyes widened. “But it’s- it’s something,” Barry said, stepping closer to Singh. “We need a map, don’t you have one in your office?” he said and Singh, because he wasn’t a stupid man, seemed to get what he was saying. 

“West, coordinate here,” Singh said, looking over at Joe. “Whatever you can get, do it.” He grimaced. “And make it clear to everybody that that kidnapper is full of shit and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. My husband is _not_ Captain Cold, and we all know Barry’s isn’t either,” he said loud enough for everybody to ‘overhear’. 

Joe nodded. “Got it,” he said, clapping Barry on the back as Barry followed Singh to his office.

When the door shut behind them, Singh turned to them both. “What do you know?” he asked, walking around his desk to do what they said and pull out a map of the city.”

Len already had his phone out. He put it on the desk and put it on speaker. “Lenny, why are you calling Cisco and not me?” Lisa answered. “You never call him-“

“Put Cisco or Felicity on now, Sis,” he said firmly. 

Lisa knew he was serious so she didn’t hesitate to shout for both of them. “Putting you on speaker now,” she said.

“What is it, Len?” Cisco asked and Len looked at Singh across the desk as he spoke.

“The kidnappers sent another ransom video and this time your narrowing down the warehouses is really useful, because Jason managed to sign without it being obvious what his hands were doing in his lap, and he said he can hear boats. It looked like he was just fidgeting, so it was hard to be sure, but I really think he said he hears boats,” he relayed.

“Whaaaat,” Cisco said in a high voice. “Score for smart thinking! Singh’s kid is good for a seven year old that’s gotta be terrified,” he said bluntly.

Felicity’s voice joined in. “Okay so, going by that proximity to the water, I think we can narrow the list down to nine warehouses. If we can get Barry back, he can find out which one the kids are in crazy fast-“ Len didn’t even have to look to recognize the whoosh from the left that meant Barry was already gone. Felicity barely managed to continue with her words before she yelped. “Barry! God, you scare me when you do that!” 

Singh nodded. “Great, great, you guys get on that,” he said. “Find out where it is and then, as much as I hate this, I’ll make sure the cops don’t come until you’ve had enough time to safely get the kids out and subdue the kidnappers. I trust my guys, but I don’t want bullets flying around my son.”

“Can do, Captain,” Cisco said. 

Len sighed. “We have another problem,” he said seriously. “They called me out. On the tape. They know one of the kids is Captain Cold’s son, and that video is going to the press soon. Are you _positive_ there are absolutely no records of Leonard Snart anywhere? If you have to, get Sara to check the timeline and see if I’m going to prison now, because these cops have been stupid so far to not recognize Leonard Wynters is just Leonard Snart in glasses, but once the press starts digging, I need my background as Leonard Wynters to hold up and not show any connection to Leonard Snart.”

“Nah, man, you’re good,” Cisco reassured. “I mean, we’ll get Sara to check, but I did your fake identity myself, and let me tell you, Witness Protection would kill for my skills.”

Singh rolled his eyes. “I can hear the ‘z’ on the end of that word over the phone, Ramon. You better be right. Because it is only because I trust Allen’s judgement that I haven’t blown his cover in the past. I’ll go down with him and Allen for hiding a criminal if you fucked up somewhere.”

~

Singh wanted to be in on the planning once they found what warehouse the kids were in, and Len offered to drive him to their ‘vigilante lair’. By the time they got there, Barry was already back, the cowl of his flash suit pushed down as he relayed the location of the boys to the others when they walked in. 

The others including Oliver, who had at some point come back from Star City. He had to go back yesterday since he was the mayor and had work to do, but he was back now, standing beside Barry with his hood pushed back and his mask hanging around his neck.

Singh paused and blinked a few times before rolling his eyes and sighing heavily. “Mayor Queen is the fucking Green Arrow?” he asked out loud, and Oliver turned their direction quickly, looking startled. 

“Barry!” Oliver barked. “What have I told you about-“

Len cut him off before he could finish and before Barry could reply. “His son is with ours, Queen, so he gets filled in on the rescue operation.” He delivered the words with a firmness and finality that left no room for questions. 

Sara turned around to face Len and Singh. “Captain Singh,” she greeted with a nod. “Don’t worry. We’re going to bring your boy back to you,” she said with a small, supportive smile.

Len walked over to look at the screen. “Where are they?” he asked Barry, reaching out to slide his hand into Barry’s between them. It was a subtle move, but one that immediately made Barry relax a little. Len knew Barry better than he knew himself most days, and he knew when Barry needed strength. 

Pointing to a warehouse that Cisco brought up in red on the map, Barry gestured while Cisco brought it into focus. “Old cargo warehouse on the river. I ran around the building and the doors are all chained but not manned. The one that’s being guarded is a small door on the side. I guess they figure keeping the one-man entrance unlocked keeps it easier to cover the building. There are seven of them, as the name suggests, but only three of them were in the room with the boys. I didn’t get inside, I just got on the roof and looked through the skylights where they were clean enough to see in,” he said, swallowing visibly. “They’re sitting on a pile of old shipping blankets. The three guys in the room with them were all sitting at a table, ignoring the boys, but they had guns. The two guys at the door also had guns. The other two were making rounds around the building, also armed.” He shook his head. “It’s wide open in there. There are offices off to one side of the building, but they were smart. They’re keeping the boys in a big, open space. That way they will know if someone’s coming before they can get there.”

“Yeah, but they didn’t count on us,” Sara said firmly. “We have metahumans and otherwise enhanced fighters, they can’t-“

“Miss you coming,” Len said bluntly, cutting her off. She looked at him in surprise. “I appreciate the offer for help,” he said, looking around at the Waverider crew. “But you’ve got shit going for you when it comes to stealth.” He looked at Jax and Stein. “You two literally fly around on fire,” he pointed out for example. “Mick’s weapon of choice is a flamethrower, Ray has an exoskeleton that makes him look like the Terminator, and New Guy turns metal like the other guy from Terminator. A lot of you are very noticeable.”

Singh looked alarmed, but nodded. “No, he’s right, there’s a reason I’m going to wait until the kids are safe before I send in my officers. I don’t want bullets flying around those boys, and if cops show up, or if your whole crew shows up, it’s going to become a war zone.” 

“Then what do you suggest?” Sara asked skeptically. “How else are we gonna get them out? Barry can’t just flash in and grab them if the door’s being watched. He can try, but we know he’s not invincible.”

Len turned a hardened expression her way. “He won’t have to be,” he said coldly. He turned to Oliver. “You and I can get in and out without anybody noticing anything while Barry waits for us to clear the way.” Oliver’s face hardened but he just gave a small nod. 

Barry turned to him with pained eyes. “Len,” he breathed, but Len shook his head.

“No, Barry. I won’t lose my son,” he said simply.

Everyone was uncomfortably quiet in the wake of Len’s suggestion, but much to their surprise, it was Singh who broke the silence. “It’s regrettable, but the way I see it, it’ll get our kids back alive.” He looked at Len, and Len could see the same fierce protectiveness and fear in his eyes that Len felt burning in his very core. “Like I said before, my son can recover from the trauma of being kidnapped, he can’t recover from being killed.”

“Lenny, are you sure you want to do this?” Lisa asked him, looking up at him with wide blue eyes from where she sat beside Cisco. “You aren’t that person anymore.”

Len shrugged. “I don’t want to, no, but we all heard what happens if we can’t save him. Either way, I’m going to do bad things, and I sure as hell would rather it be to save Michael than to destroy a city.”

“And what am I doing while you and Oliver go all ‘silent assassin’, then?” Barry asked, eyes full of fear and anger. “Len, I’m not standing by and just watching this when I could be intervening. I can get in without anybody dying.”

“Except all it takes is one shot and you’re down and they know we’re coming,” Oliver said gently. “Do you want to risk you slipping up and them knowing you’re there for the kids and deciding to just shoot them and run for it before you can recover?” Barry paled rapidly, and Oliver tilted his head. “Once we clear the way, you run in, grab the boys, and run out. You’ll have them halfway across the city before the ones in the room with them even realize someone’s got inside.”

“Uh, guys,” Felicity said, shaking her head. “Why don’t you just use the flashy, loud, dramatic ones as a diversion? If there’s only seven of them, we can keep from having to let Oliver and Len kill people.”

Len sighed hard. “Because what if that doesn’t work?” he demanded. “We only get one shot at this. This isn’t some random hostage, this is my _son_!” he said in a frustrated growl. “I _want_ to have a distraction work, Felicity, I don’t want to hurt anybody, because I am not Lewis Snart’s son anymore, but I will hurt however many bad people I have to if it means I get my _child_ out of that warehouse unharmed!”

“Don’t yell at her, Len,” Barry snapped. “She’s just trying to help. She’s just worried about you being so scary and cold about the prospect of _killing_ someone! You’re being harsh-“

“And why aren’t you?!” Len barked at him. “You’re the one who fucking carried him for nine months and you’re so goddamn calm-“

“BECAUSE I HAVE TO BE!” Barry shouted angrily. “I have spent every _second_ Michael is missing half a heartbeat away from LOSING IT! Because he’s just as much by child as he is yours, and everything you’re feeling I’m feeling just as bad, but I’m also having to hold on to YOU because we saw a fucking future where I LOSE BOTH OF YOU!” he all but screamed, getting right into Len’s face. Len’s eyes widened and Barry’s eyes filled with tears. He jabbed a finger at the screen angrily. “If you start killing people, what if you don’t _stop_?” he gasped through tears. His voice warbled as he continued. “What if that’s how you end up going full on super villain and trying to burn the fucking world down?! I can’t lose my baby, but I also can’t lose _you_ ,” he sobbed out. “Len-“

Len grabbed Barry’s suit and dragged him into a hard, biting kiss. Barry whimpered against his lips, but kissed back just as desperately. His hands scrabbled at Len’s jacket, and when the kiss broke, both of them needing air, Len curled his hands around either side of Barry’s head, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry,” Len whispered, looking into Barry’s red-rimmed, tearful green eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry-“

“I _understand_ ,” Barry whispered, his voice harsh and ragged. “I’m just so scared. I told you when I decided to have our baby, I told you that I can’t do this alone, Len. I can’t be the father I need to be without you there, too. I’m so scared if I let you do this, I’ll lose you, and Michael will lose you, and we need you, too. I need him, but we both need you, too.”

Len closed his eyes and pulled Barry into a crushing hug. “I know, I know you do. I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard, tipping his head back. “But I need to do this to get him back safely. It’s the safest way for the children, and it’s better it’s me than you.” Barry pulled away, looking up at him with wide eyes. Len cupped Barry’s face in his hand. “I hate the thought of being that person again, but I’ve done it before. Oliver has done it before. We’re already killers, Barry. You’ve only accidentally done it before. It’s better me and him than you.”

“He’s right, Barry,” Oliver said tersely. They both looked over at him and he nodded grimly at Len. “It’s better it’s us than you. And trying to avoid killing the kidnappers will only leave more risk for the children’s safety.” He shook his head. “If you flash in and grab them and run, there’s still the risk that something happens and you aren’t able to flash inside and grab the children. We _have_ to have you able to grab them. We can’t go in the room with the children and start killing people in front of them, so you are the only one who can get them, so we can’t risk you getting hurt clearing the way.”

Barry opened his mouth and then deflated some, rubbing his hands through his hair. “I know you’re right, but I still hate this.”

“How long do we have?” Felicity asked suddenly. They turned to her and she rolled her eyes impatiently. “How long until we go in?”

Barry shrugged. “I would hope within the next two hours. Before the newest ransom video goes on the news.”

Felicity looked at Sara. “Your ship can replicate serums, right? If I can give you the chemical makeup of something, how fast can it replicate it?”

“Half an hour at the most, why?” Sara asked, frowning. “There’s no toxin that works immediately that you’d have the formula for.”

Felicity shook her head. “No, but there’s a sedative that is instantaneous. I just need to download the specs from the home mainframe for Team Arrow. I can hack in there from here and get it in a few minutes.” She looked at Barry. “If they can sedate them instead of kill them, will it make you feel better about this?”

“I’ve never heard of an instantaneous sedative,” Len said firmly. “Not really. Not instantaneous enough to not allow any risk of them not going out fast enough and flailing hard enough to get a hand off their mouth so they can shout a warning.”

Felicity nodded. “This will be as instantaneous as slitting their throats would be, which is what I assumed you planned on doing,” she replied simply. “Oliver wanted it in case we had to take down Barry one day.” She gave Barry an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

Barry frowned. “Wait, is that the stuff you used on Thawne? It didn’t work.”

Oliver’s eyes lit up. “But it will work on a normal human,” he said, realizing what Felicity was talking about. “I mean, they might die still, but it’s at least an attempt to not have us snapping people’s necks.”

“How sure are we this will work?” Singh asked, breaking his silence. “I’m all for not killing people if we don’t have to, but he’s right. One guy shouts and my kid might die,” he stressed. “I care far more about my child than I do keeping these kidnappers alive.”

“Oh it’ll work,” Oliver said with a small huff. “Trust me.”

~

They planned it perfectly. Sara was going to land the Waverider at the docks, not even five-hundred meters from the warehouse so that they could get the kids away without having to drive anywhere and risk being chased or running into the cops once Singh radioed in. Oliver and Len were going to clear out everybody except the ones actually inside the room with the boys after that. Hopefully the sedative wouldn’t kill them, but if it did, so be it. After that, Barry was going to flash in, grab the kids, and flash back to the Waverider, where Singh and Joe would be waiting on the kids.

They were adamant that they didn’t want the kids to find out who Barry and Len were, but without either of them waiting on Michael, they decided to have Joe be the one waiting there. Barry would grab Len and flash them both to STAR Labs to change and then they would go to the police station where Singh would take the boys afterwards to wait for Michael. 

The plan was perfect right up until it went wrong. 

Oliver picked off the two guys walking the perimeter with arrows full of sedative and Len snuck inside the building and got the two that were waiting in the inner hallway. He got back outside and signaled for Oliver to radio to the Waverider, and Barry flashed past so fast that it was like the slightest rustling noise passing him. The problem came after that. Nobody had counted on Barry flashing inside and getting _electrocuted_. 

The doors to the main room, where the boys were being held with the remaining kidnappers, were wired and as soon as Barry touched them to flash through, he got electrocuted and ended up rolling across the warehouse floor with a cry of pain. 

Oliver spotted through the windows from above and let everybody know what was going on, but at that point, nobody had time to make a new plan. Len rushed inside and to the doors, peeking through the windows. The wires had been broken and the doors were no longer charged, so he knew that, if he could get a distraction, he could get in. 

“Here’s the plan,” he whispered. “Sara, you still know how to pick locks?”

“All day long, why?” she asked.

Len grimaced. “There’s another set of doors that I passed on the far side of the main room of the warehouse floor. They’re padlocked and chained, but you’re quiet enough you can get in. I have a really, really stupid plan that involves going in and causing a distraction as soon as you get there and can start picking the lock.”

“Snart, that’s too risky!” Singh hissed. “This is exactly what we were trying to avoid!”

“I know,” he said grimly. “But we didn’t plan on _this_ either,” he said, watching as Barry, who was conscious but squirming in pain on the floor, was dragged upright by one of the gunmen. There was a man standing behind the boys with his gun drawn, and Len knew they couldn’t risk any sort of sniper shot with an arrow from the windows when he was that close to the kids. 

“I’ll let you know when I’m there,” Sara said simply, and Len settled down to wait, looking through the crack of the doors with the gun he had discarded in his hands again. 

~

Michael’s eyes widened as he saw _The Flash_ getting hauled to his feet by the bad man. “But he’s a superhero!” he signed to Jason, who nodded, looking just as scared as he was. 

“Eurgh, God,” The Flash moaned in pain as he was shoved into the table the bad guys had been spreading their maps out on earlier. He nearly slid over it, but he got to his feet. “Shit.”

“You think we’re that stupid, Flash?” Dave asked, putting his gun to The Flash’s back. “We knew you might be a problem, and we thought ‘why not rig the door’? A normal guy would die touching that, so we knew it would do double duty for us.” The Flash started to move and he poked him with the gun. “Think about zipping out of here and one of them brats takes a bullet,” he warned, and Jason grabbed tighter hold of Michael’s arm.

“Don’t-“ The Flash panted some as he stood up, slowly turning with his hands up. “Don’t hurt them. Please,” he all but begged, his voice doing that thing it did when he was on the news so he sounded like a cool robot, and Michael was too far away to see him close, but for some reason he looked familiar when he moved. “Don’t hurt the kids because of me, please!”

“Hey, Dave,” Greg, the man holding a gun behind Jason, said. “If he’s here, the cops have to be on their way. What do you say we ditch all three of them and get out of here?”

Mark scoffed from where he stood. “And then what?! If the cops are already coming, they’ll catch us on our way out! We’ve got three hostages instead of two, now. A human shield for all three of us.” He hesitated. “Well, a metahuman shield for one of us.”

“No, look, take me and let go of the kids,” The Flash said. “I’ll go with you,” he said, sounding scared. “I won’t run, I swear.”

Dave turned to him and huffed. “Yeah, right,” he said, and then, before The Flash could even move, Dave raised the gun and pulled the trigger.

~

Len knew better, he _knew_ better, but he couldn’t hold in a scream of, “NO!” when one of the kidnappers _shot Barry_ point-blank. With his scream, he lurched through the doors in a panicked jerk as he watched Barry fall to the floor and not move. Len raised his gun before they could get lucky and shoot him, too, so they were stuck facing off as Barry lay on the floor, bleeding from his abdomen and not moving.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” the one behind the boys said, and it was then that Len realized that, unlike Barry, Len had nothing to hide his identity, and Michael was looking right at him.

“Dad?!” Michael cried, looking scared and hopeful at the same time.

Len gritted his teeth and looked back at the one nearest him, the one whose gun was aimed at him, and the one who had just shot Barry. The guy’s eyes widened. “Shit. You’re Captain Cold.”

“And you’re going to regret putting me in this position,” Len said in a cold, empty tone.

“Dad, what’s he talking about?” Michael asked, sniffling pitifully.

Len’s chest tightened painfully. “Don’t worry about it, Michael. You’re going to be okay, don’t be scared, alright.”

The guy who had shot Barry tutted. “You see, Kid, your daddy here is a bad man. We told you, so. You just didn’t believe us.” He leveled the gun on Len. “Too bad he won’t get a chance to explain to-“

All at once, two things happened. The windows shattered at the side of the warehouse, and Oliver and Sara both dropped through those windows and shot the man who shot Barry and the one on the other side of the table with the same sedative darts they had used on the guys outside. 

Len watched as they both collapsed, but before he could do anything, the guy holding the gun on the boys opened fire, sending Sara and Oliver both running for cover. Len couldn’t follow them, though, because he couldn’t let his son out of his sight. As Oliver and Sara both dove behind crates to a spot where they couldn’t hope to get a shot off at the guy behind the boys, Len raised his gun and leveled it at the man.

When he saw Len, he quickly put the gun to Michael’s back, eyes wide with panic. “Don’t think I won’t do it,” he said, and Len fought a wave of panic as the guy’s hand shook. “If you pull the trigger, I do, too.”

“You’d never have a chance, to,” Len said gravely. He knew he wasn’t wrong. “This bullet will hit you between the eyes before you can flinch, and with the trigger weight on that model, your body jerking won’t make it go off. Also those are built to not misfire when dropped, so it won’t hurt him.” He shook his head ever so slightly. “Now put the gun down and you can walk away.”

“No way, man, you’re bluffing-“

“Please,” Len gritted out, his eyes stinging as he swallowed around a lump in his throat. “Please don’t make me do this in front of my son.” He stared the man in the eyes. “Please don’t make me kill you in front of two children. I am not a killer, I do not want to ever be that person again, but if you don’t take that gun away from those boys, I will do it.”

The guy could see the tears in Len’s eyes and he smirked. “You know, I don’t think you’ll do it,” he said, gesturing with the gun, taking it away from Michael’s back as he did so. “You don’t have it in yo-“ 

The man’s worse were cut off by the deafening gunshot that rang out in the warehouse. Both boys screamed and Len shouted, “NO!” out of fear, only to stop breathing when, instead of one of the boys, it was the kidnapper whose chest grew red with blood as he collapsed to the floor between the two boys.

“He may not have it in him, but I sure as hell did.” Len’s eyes jerked up and he saw David Singh standing at the back door Sara was supposed to have been unlocking with his gun still raised.

“DAD!” Jason shouted as he spotted his father, and immediately the hardened look in Singh’s eyes faded and he dropped his gun, charging forward to grab his son into his arms.

Len did the same, only to stop at the last second, scared Michael might be afraid of him. However, Michael didn’t seem to care as he leapt into Len’s arms, crying hard as he burrowed into his father’s chest. “Michael, Michael, Michael,” Len repeated, over and over, clutching him so hard he might very well leave bruises, the one thing he said he would never do to his child, but he couldn’t let go even slightly because _Michael was in his arms and safe_.

For a moment, one shining moment, Len felt like everything was finally okay. After the worst few days of his entire life, everything was fine… and then Oliver shouted Barry’s name and it all came crashing down on him again. 

“Barry, can you hear me? C’mon, don’t be dead, Allen, I swear to God,” Oliver cried as he and Sara came out of hiding and rushed to where Barry lay on the floor still.

Len panicked for a moment, because not only had he _forgotten_ his boyfriend had been shot, but also because at the sound of his father’s name, Michael’s head popped up and he looked around. “Daddy?” he asked, and Len saw Singh’s head come up with horror in his eyes as he looked at Michael and then over at Barry.

“No, shhh, look at me, Michael,” Len said, trying to turn so Michael wouldn’t see, but Michael was his son, after all, so he was too smart for that.

Oliver and Sara had dragged Barry’s cowl off his head and unzipped his suit, and Michael immediately spotted that The Flash was his daddy. “DADDY!” he screamed, his face twisting with terror. “NO, DADDYYYYY!” he screamed, struggling in Len’s arms. “DADDY WAKE UP! I WANT DADDY!” he screamed, fighting Len’s hold on him, but Len held tight on instinct. His insides felt hollow as Michael kicked him and hit him and screamed at the top of his lungs, trying to get away from him to go to his daddy, and no matter what Len tried to do to stop him from seeing Barry, covered in blood, lying on the floor as Oliver and Sara tried to help him, Michael kept crying out for Barry looking a hundred times more terrified now than he had the whole time he was being held captive as he saw his father bleeding out in front of him. 

Singh had disappeared out the door with Jason the moment he could, as planned, and Len just slumped to his knees, holding Michael as close as possible as he braved the panicked tantrum he threw out of fear and trauma, too weak to try and do anything more than hold him in his arms and hope he wasn’t watching the fruitless efforts to save his father’s life. 

~

After a few minutes of Barry and Sara being the only ones in the warehouse with them, the rest of the Waverider crew came into the warehouse. With Mick’s help, Oliver and Sara managed to pick Barry up and get him to the Waverider. Dr. Stein and Jax stayed to watch the unconscious members of The Seven while the cops came. It was the new woman, Amaya, who came over with Ray and helped him with Michael. They helped Len to his feet and then, much to his surprise, Ray held out his arms for Michael, and even more surprising, Michael went to him without too much of a fuss.

By then he had cried himself into just lying there and sobbing, but it didn’t hurt any less to see him like that. 

Amaya helped Len put one foot in front of the other on their way outside, because he wasn’t really sure he could do that on his own right then. 

~

When Barry opened his eyes, he immediately saw the glass walls of STAR Labs and panicked. He sat up quickly, only to groan at the familiar feeling of rapidly healed wounds on his torso. “Barry!” Caitlin’s voice came from the side, and when he looked over, she rushed to push him back down. “You almost died! Stay still!”

All of a sudden, it hit him. “Michael?!” he cried fearfully, struggling to sit up again. 

However, before Caitlin could scold him, he heard the most welcome sound he had ever heard. “Daddy?” Barry looked around just in time to see Len chasing Michael as he sprinted full out on his little legs through the doorway. “DADDY!”

“Michael!” Barry cried, holding out his arms, and when Michael scrambled up onto the bed and dove onto him, he didn’t care how much it hurt or how much Caitlin protested. He pulled Michael into his arms and held him tightly, pressing his face into Michael’s hair as he cried. “I love you so much, Michael. Oh God, I was so scared, were you scared? Are you okay?” he asked, pulling back, taking Michael’s face in his hands. “Oh my baby,” he sobbed, holding him close once more.

It took a long time before either of them calmed down, and even longer before someone spoke. Len sat on a chair beside the bed silently, one hand curled with Barry’s as Michael lay tucked under Barry’s arm, his head on Barry’s chest, just hanging onto his daddy for a long time. Eventually, though, Michael spoke. “Daddy? Were you always The Flash?”

Barry groaned and sighed. “I really wanted to put that one off for a while,” he confessed and Michael sat up, looking at him with a frown. “I’ve been The Flash for many years now, Son.” He slid his fingers over Michael’s coarse little curls. “But you have to promise you won’t ever tell anybody. It’s really important it stay a secret, okay?” He shook his head. “If somebody knew I was The Flash they could come after our family, Michael. You can never tell anyone. Ever.”

“Cause bad people might hurt you again?” Michael asked, looking scared slightly.

Barry nodded seriously. “Or hurt you. Or take you away from me like this again.” He shuddered. “I can’t ever deal with someone taking you away from me again, Michael. Bad people would hurt you or take you just to get to The Flash if they knew.”

Michael looked at Len with wide eyes and bit his little lip before looking back at Barry. “The- the man who took me and Jason, he- he said Dad is a bad man.” He looked at Len and Barry’s heart dropped. “Are- are you a bad man, Dad?” he asked in a tiny, heartbroken voice. Barry could understand why, because he knew that Len was Michael’s hero. Michael loved them both, but his dad was his favorite person in the whole world. To Michael, Len was the coolest person ever. Len may as well have hung the stars in the sky just for Michael, Michael idolized him so much. To find out his dad wasn’t perfect was a blow for a child Michael’s age.

It broke Barry’s heart to see tears fill Len’s eyes, because he knew that Len hated nothing more than disappointing his son. Len leaned against the side of the bed, putting himself at Michael’s level. “I used to be,” he confessed, and Michael’s eyes widened significantly. Len reached out, touching Michael’s little side. “I- I used to be a bad man. I used to be a criminal, and I hurt people, and I lied, and I robbed people.” Len shook his head, a tear slipping down his cheek. “He wasn’t making it up. I was a very bad person.” He sniffled. “But I’m not anymore. I know it’s hard to understand, and I know it makes no sense to you right now, Son, but as you get older, you’ll learn that- that people can change.” He smiled weakly. “Your Aunt Lisa and that big guy you met tonight, Mick, we all were bad people.”

“Aunt Lisa, too?” Michael asked in a tiny voice, and Len nodded glumly.

“We did bad things all our lives, and we even hurt Daddy and his friends before. But we changed.”

“But why?” Michael asked, face scrunched in confusion. “Why were you bad if you’re not now?” Barry knew it was hard for a child to see anything but black and white, but Len didn’t seem to bother trying to sugar coat it.

“My dad was a very, very bad man,” Len said softly. “He taught me and Aunt Lisa how to do bad things and he did bad things to us.” Michael’s eyes widened. “We weren’t much older than you when he taught us how to do bad stuff, and we got really good at it.” Len shook his head, guilt in every feature of his face, and Barry reached out to subtly take his hand. “It doesn’t make what we did okay, not at all, but we did bad things because we didn’t think we could be good.”

Michael looked confused. “But why not? Everybody can be good.”

Len sniffled. “I know that now, Michael.” He squeezed Barry’s hand and touched Michael’s face with his other hand. “I didn’t think I could be anything but bad, but then I met Daddy, and he told me I could be good, and I wanted to be good so badly.” He exhaled slowly. “Nobody ever believed that I could be good before your daddy did. He didn’t even love me, then, and he said I could be good. So I decided to try.” He nodded at the glass wall. “The lady, Sara? Mick and I, we went to join the team she leads now. We did good things to help people, and I realized I wasn’t a bad person, I was just a person who did bad things. I realized I could be good.” He shook his head. “I did good things with them, and then when I came back here, I fell in love with your daddy, and I’ve never missed doing bad things ever.” He smiled wetly at Michael. “You are the best thing in the whole world and I only ever wanted to do things that would be good for our family.”

“So you’re not a bad guy anymore?” Michael asked, looking very serious for a four year old.

Len shook his head just as seriously. “No, Michael. And if I was bad, Daddy would take me to jail, no matter how much he loves me. I don’t ever want to be bad again. I love you and I love Daddy, and you two make me want to be the best I could ever be. I may not go around doing hero stuff like Daddy, but everything I do, I do it to be good enough for you, Michael.”

Michael still looked upset so Barry hugged him into his side some. “You know how Paw Paw says that bad guys who go to jail should be taught how to be good, not just locked up and forgotten?” he asked, and Michael nodded.

“Paw Paw says that even the guys in jail can still be good again. He says they shouldn’t be forgotten or they won’t ever learn to be good again,” Michael said, and Barry smiled encouragingly.

“Dad didn’t know how to be good, but he learned to. He wanted to be good, but he only knew how to do bad things because nobody ever believed in him.” He tapped Michael’s nose. “But I believed in him, and I still do. Your dad is a good person,” he said seriously. “Your dad has such a big heart, and he’s such a good dad, and I wouldn’t ever want him to change. My job is to catch bad guys and take them to jail, but I know your dad has learned to be good again because he teaches you how to be the best little boy you can be instead of a bad boy.” He kissed Michael’s hair. “I love your dad more than anything but you, Michael. He wouldn’t be your dad if I didn’t trust him with everything in me and know for a fact he’s a good person.” 

Michael seemed convinced and he nodded slowly. “Dad wouldn’t love me so much if he was a bad man,” he said, looking over at Len. 

Len’s smile widened and he reached up to wipe his eyes. “I love you more than anything else in the whole world, Michael Joseph Allen,” he said with a wet laugh. “I love you more than you will ever know,” he breathed, reaching out to pull Michael into his arms. “I love you so much.” He kissed Michael’s hair and held him close in a hug. “I was so scared,” he admitted, and Barry watched a tear slip free and slide down his cheek into Michael’s hair. “I’ve been in some scary situations before, but nothing has ever been scarier than not knowing if you were okay, or if you were hurt, or if I would ever see you again. I didn’t know I could be so scared. And now that you’re back, I’m scared that if I stop looking at you you might disappear again,” he confessed, and Barry couldn’t help the tears that snuck free of his eyelashes as he watched Len rocking Michael back and forth and holding him close. 

“How’s Jason?” Barry asked suddenly, remembering (with a little shame) that Michael wasn’t the only boy who had been kidnapped.

Len sniffled, looking up at him. “He’s okay. He’s with Cisco and Lisa now. Singh really didn’t want to walk away from him for a minute, understandably, but the story he spun when he had to go back and call it in was that the Green Arrow picked him up because they were going after his kid and wanted a cop and then The Flash and the Green Arrow worked together to help rescue the kids and then they brought them back to a safe place in case there were more kidnappers out there.” He nodded to Barry’s bandaged body. “Once you’re healed enough to at least walk we’ve got to go to the police station when Singh calls us to tell us they found Michael.” He looked at Michael with a smile. “And then Michael has to act like he’s surprised to see us when the Green Arrow shows up with him and Jason at the station to bring them home to their parents.”

Barry’s chest clenched. “So we have to let go of him already, huh?” he asked, feeling sick at the prospect. He knew that, eventually, he would have to stop staring at Michael like he might disappear any minute, but it was too soon.

Len looked just as upset about the idea. “Yeah, but it’s okay.” He kissed Michael’s head. “Michael will be safe with the Green Arrow,” he said, and Michael looked absolutely excited by the idea.

“His friend had a _space ship_!” Michael gushed. “Jason’s dad took us on a space ship, Daddy!” He bounced in Len’s lap. “A real, live space ship, it was so cooool!” He stopped suddenly, looking back at Barry. “It was scary, too, though, cause you were hurt and they told Jason’s dad that the space ship was the only reason you didn’t _die_ ,” he said, eyes wide as he looked at Barry. “Cause the bad guy _shot you_.”

“I’m okay,” Barry said suddenly. “I promise, I’m okay now,” he soothed. “The cool space ship did its job, and I heal fast anyways,” he confided. Barry secretly suspected that Michael had some of his healing properties as well, and he had talked to Len about it before. Michael always healed faster than most kids from random scrapes and bruises. Len thought it was just the diligence in good bandages and ointments that healed cuts faster, but Barry wondered if it wasn’t just Barry’s DNA. They couldn’t very well test his DNA, nor would they make him go through having blood drawn in large quantities like they would need when it wasn’t necessary. They also let Michael believe what they told everyone else, that Michael was adopted. They didn’t want to explain Barry being pregnant and they couldn’t tell him before now that Barry was different than normal people, so they had just told him they adopted him as a baby, which was what everybody else was told. 

One day they would explain. Probably when he was old enough to actually understand where babies came from and why Daddy being pregnant didn’t make sense. But for now, Barry would just hope that his healing properties passed on to Michael for his own peace of mind knowing his son would heal better than if he was normal. 

Len and Barry held Michael as long as they could, talking to him about the bad men and all the bad things he had seen, and trying to ascertain what amount of trauma he had suffered and how difficult it would be for him to recover without triggering a bad reaction already. When the time came to give him up, they both cried again, even though Michael rolled his eyes at them and reassured them he was going in the ‘cool space ship’ again and that the Green Arrow would keep him safe. 

The half-hour they had to wait before they could go to the police station was the longest half-hour of Barry’s life, but he spent that time stroking his fingers over Len’s scalp as he lay his head in Barry’s lap, seeking comfort from Barry while they both suffered the worst anxiety ever waiting for the call to come get their baby back after only having him in their arms for a short while after such a terrible ordeal.

~

Len and Barry stood with a fretting Rob while they waited on their boys. Barry hated more than anything that there were TV cameras waiting outside the doors, because he fully intended to run outside the second he saw Michael in the plaza outside the building. The hardest part would be running at normal speeds, honestly.

When the moment came, Rob let out a strangled sob and shoved the doors open, running flat out through the doors. David was carrying Jason up the stairs when Rob collided with them, dragging Jason out of David’s arms as he all but collapsed to the ground, clinging to his child. Barry knew that feeling well. Michael had been holding Singh’s hand, so it took nothing to scoop him up, hugging him close. 

Even though they had already had their reunion with their son, it wasn’t an act the way that Barry and Len both cried, again, as they clung to Michael. However, it was good, Barry thought, that they had had that reunion already, because they only had a moment of hugging him between them before Joe caught up with them and demanded his grandson. Barry let Joe take him, and Len hugged him tight as they watched Joe crying while Michael patted his head and reassured him. “Paw Paw, I’m okay,” he kept saying, but it wasn’t his biological parents that were the reason Barry was such an emotional person, so Joe wasn’t going to stop for a while. 

Wally and Iris weren’t allowed to come to the police station, but Barry knew that after they took the boys to allow the police to interview them and have medics check them over, the second they took Michael home, Iris and Wally would be there (as probably would Lisa and Cisco, at least) waiting on their nephew to get home safely. 

Barry looked at Len, whose arms were tight around his waist, and he reached up, cupping Len’s cheek as he drew his eyes from Michael and Joe’s reunion to meet his. “We’re going to be okay, Len,” he reassured, and Len nodded weakly, wiping at his tears behind his glasses.

“I know, I just- I thought you were dead, and I thought I would lose him, and I- I worried I might- I might-“

Barry cut him off with a kiss, pressing their foreheads together. “Just like you told Michael, Len. I believe in you. I believe in the good in you. I believe you’re a good person.” He shook his head. “You’re not Captain Cold anymore, and you’re not going to become a supervillain who burns the world.” He touched Len’s cheekbone with his fingertips. “Because you’re gonna spend the next thirty years too busy being a partner and a father and maybe even a grandfather. You won’t have time to go do bad things.”

Len sniffled and pressed their foreheads together. “Promise?”

With a kiss, Barry drew him closer. “I promise.” Len exhaled heavily and Barry smiled at him, green eyes meeting blue. “Now, let’s go pry our kid away from Joe, get done with this police stuff for the day, and then take him home and hide him away for the next decade,” he said, and Len snorted, but nodded with relief.

“I like your style, Kid. Sounds like a plan.”


End file.
